This invention relates generally to the field of sports and exercise equipment, and, in particular to a balance board for improving and developing the balancing ability of an individual.
Developing a good sense of balance is generally a matter of practice. Many popular sports activities require a well developed sense of balance in order to become proficient. For example, sports such as cycling, skiing, snowboarding, skateboarding and the like all involve the use of equipment that requires the user to be able to accurately control their position on the equipment. Continuous shifting and adjustment of the user""s weight and centre of gravity with respect to the equipment at appropriate times is vital to proper use of the equipment and full enjoyment of the sport.
In the normal course of growing up, a person must develop quite an advance sense of balance in order to graduate from a baby""s crawling movements to the common walking and running movements of a child or adult. However, once the walking and running movements are mastered, a reliable sense of balance for manoeuvring in the everyday world is taken for granted by most people. To a large extent, everyday play of a child develops and refines the sense of balance. Common toys and sporting equipment such as bicycles, skateboards and snowboards also allow a person to practice and further develop their sense of balance.
In order to concentrate on developing balancing skills, equipment known as balance boards has been developed. Prior art balancing boards and other relevant exercise equipment known to the applicant are described in the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 842,462 to Grafin
U.S. Pat. No. 3,451,672 to Kazdan
U.S. Pat. No. 3,488,049 to Sasser
U.S. Pat. No. 3,491,189 to Mutius
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,321 to Gehrke
U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,768 to England
U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,787 to Studebaker
U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,318 to Francke
U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,477 to Wilkinson
U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,469 to Sasser
U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,542 to Hudec
U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,588 to Desjardins
U.S. Pat. No. 5,048,823 to Bean
U.S. Pat. No. 5,190,506 to Zubik et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,296 to Davignon
U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,140 to Klippels
Many prior art balancing boards involve a platform that is pivotable about a singe axis. While this arrangement is initially challenging for a beginner, with practice, it becomes relatively easy to master. Alternatively, other balancing board designs rely on a spherical or hemi-spherical pivot point that permits movement in all directions. Such a design requires an well developed sense of balance to use and it is therefore best suited to an advanced user. Unfortunately, for a beginner, a spherical or hemi-spherical pivot is frustrating to use as it is very difficult to balance on consistently.
To overcome the shortcomings of prior art balancing boards, applicant has developed a balance board that relies on a unique pivot point arrangement that permits end to end, side to side and torsional movement about first, second and third axes alone and in combination.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a balance board comprising:
a platform to support a user;
a ground contacting member having a rounded lower surface in contact with the ground to permit pivoting of the platform about a first axis; and
a resiliently deformable interconnecting member mounted between the ground contacting member and the platform to permit pivoting of the platform about a second axis substantially perpendicular to the first axis and about a third axis substantially perpendicular to the first and second axes, the interconnecting member being shaped and dimensioned to substantially resist bending in all other directions.
As well, the balance board of the present invention includes a stop system that permits the pivotability of the board about at least one of the pivoting axes to be adjusted so that the balance board can be used by beginner, intermediate and advanced users. In a preferred arrangement, the system uses a stop member extending from the platform to engage with a fixed surface when the platform is pivoted to a pre-determined extent to limit further pivoting. The stop member can be resiliently deformable and includes means to adjust its deformability so that the extent of pivoting of the platform can be varied according to the skill level of the user.